mother nature has been enticing animals to eat sweet fruit to move seeds for
millions of years.

It has mastered that changing of starch to sugar once picked or fallen, long
ago

As long as the fruit has developed enough to store starch, it will try to
turn the starch in the fruit to sugar when separated from the plant.


"Dean G." > wrote in message
oups.com...
> A few days ago, I bought a tomato that was still partially green, and
> obviously not completely ripe. I noticed this, because usually the
> store bought tomatoes are treated with ethylene gas to "ripen" them.
> Well, the gas does change their color, and may help to ripen the
> tomato, but the results are not as good as time itself provides. I took
> the tomato home, and put it in my fruit bowl on the kitchen table.
>
> A few days later I noticed the tomato was no longer green. Because the
> tomato was not treated with ethylene, I was able to tell that it was
> getting ripe. With the gas treated tomatoes, it is not as easy to tell,
> and often the tomatoes go to mush before I realise they are ripe.

mushy usually from being picked too green

This
> time was different. When I noticed it has changed, I was pretty sure
> the tomato was ripe, and after careful experimentation (I sliced it up
> and put it on a roast beef sandwhich), I was sure it was ripe. It was
> also quite tastey, something I have missed about most tomatoes of late.
>
> Now I see the insidious nature of the gas treatment. It doesn't really
> do anything bad in and of itself, it just prevents me from knowing when
> the tomato really is ripe. Without the treatment, I can see the tomato
> as it ripens, and know when it is ripe. With the treatment, I don't
> know the tomato is ripe until it starts to go bad.
>
> The ugly tomato was the cheapest tomato they had at the store ($1.79 or
> $1.59 per pound, IIRC), but turned out to be tastier than many other
> tomatoes I have bought at higher prices. I'm sure many of those
> expensive gas-treated tomatoes would be very good as well, but how can
> I tell when they will be good ? I certainly can't tell by looking at
> them, and while I could squeeze and sniff them, the color method seems
> to work as well if the tomato isn't (mis-)treated with ethylene gas.
>
> I think I'll have ugly tomatoes from now on.
>
> Dean G.
>